This invention relates to a process and composition of matter for the production of fish bait.
The art of manufacturing fish bait to catch trout, bass, etc., is quite old and there has developed a considerable industry in collecting, preserving, and enlarging the roe from the Pacific salmon for use as fish bait. Salmon eggs are a preferred bait for lake and stream fishing. The natural supply of salmon egg is limited and due to the competition for salmon roe which is also used to make red caviar, the cost is almost prohibitive. There exists, therefore, a demand for a manufactured salmon egg prepared from readily available raw material not used as foodstuffs by humans. Our copending application Ser. No. 275,148 filed Jul. 26, 1972 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,803 issued Apr. 8, 1975, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 40,722 filed May 22, 1970 and now abandoned, is a disclosure of a suitable composition and process for making manufactured imitation salmon eggs. Application Ser. No. 275,148 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,803 is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The method of the invention disclosed in application Ser. No. 275,148 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,803 comprises in summary the following processing steps: A proteinaceous material which forms a thermally reversible gel in a water solution or mixture is prepared for this process by mixing with water at a temperature in excess of the sol-gel transition temperature. Bait-sized globules are then formed from the mass of proteinaceous sol and then cooled below the sol-gel transition temperature to form a gelatinous mass. The surface of this gelatinous mass is then treated with a curing or tanning agent such as formaldehyde to cross-link the gel forming the exterior into a relatively water-insoluble, skinlike material having an increased sol-gel transition temperature. The tanning process is continued until a thin skin surrounding the main bulk of the gelatinous material is cross-linked. The resulting product may then be packed by known techniques into hermetically sealed containers and sold through usual channels as fish bait.